Media Relations

We’re not being political—that’s not our role—but we got a good laugh from stories that surfaced late last week about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump allegedly posing as his own publicist. Since we write about the profession, we were amused.

More and more, brands are realizing that audiences (especially young audiences) are spending a lot of time on YouTube, and that the video platform’s influential content creators are perhaps the best target for their media relations efforts. Consumers aged 13-24 spend more time watching YouTube than TV, it has been reported—the former seems more promising in the ROI department.

Budweiser has long liked to think itself an essential part of the American identity. In recent years the company hasn’t shied from proclaiming itself as such. In a continuation of the beer’s patriotic branding, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced its boldest move yet: Budweiser will be removing the brand name from its cans and bottles, and rebranding the beer simply as “America.”

During an election year, it can seem like the news cycles are constantly dominated by tawdry political scandals, controversial sound bites and mountains of op-eds and think pieces. How’s a PR pro supposed to grab headlines in a positive way amid massive election coverage?

As influencers’ follower numbers rise, engagement actually decreases. Basically, having a larger following does not mean that their followers are more engaged, which can be an issue to brands trying to reach their target audiences through these individuals. Micro-influencers better connect with their followers due to their targeted focus on very niche areas and topics.

After facing heavy criticism from Bernie Sanders, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam took to LinkedIn the same day to set the record straight. In a post called “Feeling The Bern of Reality — The Facts About Verizon and The ‘Moral Economy,'” he said “The senator’s uninformed views are, in a word, contemptible.” He went on to rebut claims that Verizon underpays taxes and doesn’t help America with its profits.